ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The owners of Collected Works in the Kerrytown neighborhood will close their shop after the upcoming holiday season.
Irene Patalan and her husband Rich Thompson opened the women’s boutique in 1977. In an email, the pair said that the timeline for the store’s closure is flexible but they will not be ordering spring or summer merchandise.
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“Our customers have grown up with us. We have dressed a woman for her wedding in the 1980s, and her daughter in the 2010s. Our customers have shared so much with us; we are a gathering place for women. Throughout the years, the friendships we have made with our lovely clients have been the icing on the cake. These relationships have made Collected Works a salon. We don’t just sell clothes,” they said.
Over the course of 44 years, the shop has moved around the downtown Ann Arbor area. It started at 303 E. Liberty St., moved a few doors down the block, over to the State and Liberty area briefly and then to the 300 block of Main Street. Collected Works finally settled down in its current location, 303 Detroit St., in the Market Place building 20 years ago.
Patalan and Thompson called their store “a fun, exciting, labor of love” adding that they were humbled by the decades of support by the community.
That support was especially appreciated during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the two said. They credited their clientele for the boutique’s survival, noting that customers stayed connected to Collected Works through weekly YouTube videos.
“While an absolute labor of love, after 44 years, it is time for Irene to retire. Her three children grew up at Collected Works; she has often said to them that Collected Works was the first-born. Now her six grandchildren are calling her. And her husband too,” the statement says.
Currently, Collected Works is open from noon to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays.